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ABSTRACT
Petroleum contamination in the environment is a common problem in many parts of the world today. This study assessed the toxicity of petroleum contaminated soil to nitrifying bacteria. Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were isolated from soil and used in the tests. The species were exposed to varying concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons. Bacterial counts were carried out using standard methods at 2, 4 and 8 hours after incubation. The results of the investigation revealed that the with increasing concentrations of TPH in the soil, the bacterial counts obtained for Nitrobacter sp. and Nitrosomonas sp. decreased significantly (p<0.05). This suggests that petroleum hydrocarbons are highly toxic to nitrifying bacteria at high concentration. It also shows that these bacteria may be unable to carry out bacterial remediation when the concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons exceed their tolerance limit. It is recommended that petroleum contamination of soil is prevented or controlled using applicable measures.
